By Ken Honda | Published October 27, 2022

There is a difference between buying luxury items for personal enjoyment versus buying them for perceived value. In the first instance you are buying a coveted item to fulfill a personal enjoyment. It doesn’t matter if anyone else in the world knows you own this item, it is purely for your enjoyment, and possibly for those you love. But, when we buy things for their perceived value we begin to slide down a slippery slope because it’s easy for us to wrap our own sense of value into material objects if we get too committed to the practice.

Have you ever thought about the reason for people spending their money on name brand items? Or the newest and most fashionable things, when they might already own a perfectly fine version of the same item? Name brand bags, shoes, cars and toys all are attractive because their perceived value makes us feel special!

It’s important to recognize this in ourselves, as we see the root of the reason for spending all that extra money on “stuff” just because it has a name brand label on it. In a society where people are constantly comparing, who wouldn’t want to feel acknowledged for having something nice? But, it creates the danger of always living in scarcity because the next trending this is coming out tomorrow. 

The deeper truth is that you are already naturally valuable. The more you connect with the things that make you unique, and share them as gifts to yourself, your community, and peers, the more you will remember your own specialness and feel filled up! Then, if you are buying things to feel that extra burst of specialness, it becomes an added joy, but not the main source of your happiness.

Begin by noticing today how you can share your natural capabilities with the world around you and notice the deep feelings of acknowledgment that come from within!